Soviet destroyer Neustrashimy

Neustrashimy (Неустрашимый, Dauntless) was a destroyer built for the Soviet Navy in the early 1950s. She was to be the prototype for an extended production run but only one ship was built. Neustrashimy was considered too big for series production and a modified design, the Kotlin-class destroyer was chosen for series production instead. The Soviet Designation was Project 41. This was the first Soviet ship to be given a NATO reporting name being called the Tallinn class.

The ship was built by Zhdanov Shipyard, Leningrad, laid down 1950, Launched 29 January 1951, on extended trials between 28 January 1952 and commissioning on 31 January 1955. She served in the Baltic Fleet and was decommissioned 22 February 1974.

Design
This ship was the first true post war destroyer design, the Skoryy-class destroyer being essentially a pre-war design.

Hull
The ship had a flushed deck design which enabled it to be fully closed down for nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) warfare, with air conditioning and improved heating. Some armour (10 - 20 mm) was fitted around the bridge and gun mountings. There were, however, some problems with seakeeping, particularly with the shape of the bow which led to the forward part of the ship being very wet.

Propulsion
The ship was fitted with a new high pressure steam turbine powerplant. The boilers and engine rooms were located in alternating spaces in a "unit machinery" arrangement. The boilers used forced draft to reach a pressure of 64 kg/cm2. The powerplant could be fired up without pre-heating and proved 20% more economical than that of the Skoryy-class ships. This basic machinery was used for most subsequent Soviet steam powered ships.

Armament
The gun armament comprised two stabilised, enclosed dual purpose 130 mm mountings located in "A" and "Y" positions. Anti-aircraft artillery comprised four quad mountings with new 45 mm automatic guns. Anti-submarine weapons comprised two RBU-2500 anti-submarine mortars. Two quintuple torpedo tubes and up to 50 mines were also fitted.

Sensors

 * Radar
 * Ryf surface search
 * Neptun Navigation
 * Fut air search
 * Sonar
 * Pegas

An initial combat information and control system Plashnet-41 was used.

Luda-class DDG
According to Conway's All the World Fighting Ships 1947-1995 2nd edition, the Neustrashimy design was sold to China and became the basis for their Luda-class DDG. However, due to the external resemblance between the Luda and the Kotlin classes, many analysts today claim that the Luda class is based on the Kotlin.